John Steele's passion for science had lasting effect at WHOI

John H Steele's influence on the field of oceanography is difficult to overstate - he loomed large in the field, while remaining humble, kind and ever-curious in his personal life.

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By JASON COOK

capecodtimes.com

By JASON COOK

Posted Nov. 7, 2013 at 2:00 AM
Updated Nov 7, 2013 at 8:50 AM

By JASON COOK

Posted Nov. 7, 2013 at 2:00 AM
Updated Nov 7, 2013 at 8:50 AM

» Social News

WOODS HOLE — John H. Steele's influence on the field of oceanography is difficult to overstate.

Steele — who died Monday in Falmouth, about a week before his 87th birthday — loomed large in the field, while remaining humble, kind and ever-curious in his personal life, according to colleagues who knew him.

Summing up Steele's influence in the field of oceanography was simple for Hugh Ducklow, a biological oceanographer at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

"Enormous. He was seminal," he said. Steele and his mathematical approach made biologists "respectable," he added.

In his 1974 book, "The Structure of Marine Ecosystems," Steele laid out the mathematical equations he used in his study of oceanography. The book became a "foundation for generations following," Ducklow said. "It became a bible."

What made Steele a great mind, according to Ducklow, was his endless appetite for all things scientific. Seeing him last summer, Ducklow said Steele's "primary excitement" was scientific curiosity.

"He was still really engaged in everything," he said.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Nov. 15, 1926, Steele made his way to the Cape in the 1950s, starting a relationship with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution that lasted decades.

Steele's leadership as director of the institution from 1977 to 1989 brought a science-first emphasis to an administrative role, said friend and colleague Brian Rothschild, 79, a professor emeritus at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

"Some administrators are not scientists," he said.

But Steele was not at his happiest as an administrator. Rather, he found true joy in the field, said Andy Solow, 58, director of the Marine Policy Center at WHOI.

"I always knew his interest was in research. He read everything while he was director," he said. After stepping down and joining the Marine Policy Center, Steele seemed happier, Solow said.

There was a feeling of nervousness that the former director coming to the center would create an uncomfortable atmosphere, Solow said.

And it did change, "but for the better," he said. "He did not act imperiously."

His humble, behind-the-scenes attitude was a defining characteristic for Steele, Solow said.

"He wouldn't put himself up front; he was a shy guy." But Steele's fingerprints are "all over" a number of scientific programs across the country, some that took decades to build, Solow said.

"He didn't take a lot of credit for that. It wasn't his style."

While mostly reserved, there were flashes of Steele's biting sense of humor, Solow said, recounting a meeting about funding the two attended.

"We were talking about taking funding from a private group, which we didn't normally do," he said. "One scientist said, 'I'd rather starve than take that money,'" Solow said.

Steele chimed in, he added.

"'I agree. I would rather you starve than accept that money.'"

Rothschild — who knew Steele since the early 1970s — also recalled a personal moment with Steele, he said.

At a meeting in Virginia, Steele, Rothschild and another scientist spent an evening together, with science taking a back seat. "We drank whiskey and quoted poetry all night," he said. "He wrote to me recently referencing that night."

The former director, who helped shape WHOI into what it is today and whose impact on the field of oceanography is still apparent, leaves behind a big hole, Solow said. "It was great having him. We'll miss him."